The invention relates to a transport carriage for transporting and handling needle boards, such as are being used in felting machines.
Felting machines are being used for the manufacture of felt, said felting machines comprising needle boards. Such a needle board is a large plate-shaped component that is fitted with many felting needles that project away from a surface of the needle board. While one or more such needle boards are being used in a felting machine, the needle boards are mostly kept readily available in larger numbers at a storage location in order to be installed in and removed from the felting machine as needed.
Felting needles are subject to wear. Therefore, the felting needles on the needle boards need to be replaced on occasion. To accomplish this, automatic fitting machines are used, into which the needle boards need to be moved or out of which the needle boards need to be transported as needed. The needle boards may have a considerable weight of several kilograms, e.g., 50 kg and more, and may be very large. On the one hand, the felting needles are very sensitive. They must be damaged neither during transport nor during storage. Already minimal bending of one or more of the felting needles is unacceptable. On the other hand, the felting needles frequently have a very sharp point, a sharp edge and/or are provided with barbs, so that they pose a considerably injury hazard.
It is the object of the invention to provide a transport device for the gentle and hazard-free transport of the needle boards.